The Art of the Shoe. Marie-Josèphe Bossan

Mark gives a different version: “He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts – but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics…” (Mark, 6:8–9).

      Although it emphasizes asceticism, Mark’s version retains the shoe as a symbol of travel, as Jean-Paul Roux explains in an article in the journal of the Institute of Calceology entitled, “The symbolism of the shoe in the religions descended from Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” In Luke’s parable of the prodigal son, the father says of his newly found son, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet” (Luke, 15:22). Only free men could enjoy sandals, as slaves did not have the right to wear shoes. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the account of Saint Peter’s deliverance in the Acts of the Apostles contains a story about sandals: “That night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, ‘Arise quickly!’

      And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself and tie on your sandals’; and so he did. And he said to him, ‘Put on your garment and follow me’” (Acts, 12:6–8).

      In the later iconography of Philippe de Champaigne’s seventeenth-century painting, Christ Nailed to the Cross (Augustins Museum, Toulouse), sandals like the strapped versions evoked in the prophesy of John the Baptist are depicted carelessly strewn on the ground. Finally, if we turn to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, we read: “Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew, 14:25–30). This evangelical testimony was the subject of Boucher’s eighteenth-century painting, Saint Peter Walking on Water, remarkable in that the apostle is shoeless, whereas Jesus is depicted in magnificent sandals based on the type worn by Roman patricians.

      In conclusion, the simpler shoes (conceived for walking rather than for ceremonial use) discovered in the fortress of Massada built by Herod in the desert of the Dead Sea provide a good indication of the shoes worn by Christ and his contemporaries mentioned by the Apostles. These shoes are also more in keeping with Christ’s spirit of poverty. Because of their surprisingly modern concept, their use will span the centuries, particularly in Africa, and they can be found in many third-world countries today, often reduced to a simple sole cut out from a salvaged tire with a y-shaped thong. The sandal of Jesus moreover heralds the work of certain 21st-century designers who would take inspiration from the sandal and update its appearance.

      13. Man’s slipper, vamp decorated with motifs gilded with gold leaf. Egypt, Coptic era. International Shoe Museum, Romans.

      14. Ivory statuette of a Greek actor wearing cothurnes. Petit-Palais Museum, Paris.

      Antiquity – The Copts

      Coptic civilization was a bridge between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Direct descendants of the Pharaohs, the Copts were Egyptians that practiced Christianity. Our knowledge of their shoes comes from archaeological digs undertaken in the 19th century, in particular at Achmin.

      Additional information is available from mummy textiles and sarcophagi tops from the 1st to 4th centuries AD, which usually depicted people wearing sandals, although sometimes people appear barefoot. Funeral customs changed in the 4th century when the dead were buried dressed in their most precious clothing. From that time forward, painted textiles having disappeared, steles only offer rare images that show a type of shoe with a pointed toe.

      As was the case throughout Egyptian antiquity, the heel was unknown to the Copts: shoes, boots and sandals were always flat-soled. The use of full boots and ankle boots remains exceptional and reserved for men. These forms of footwear show little variety, but Coptic shoemakers demonstrated imagination in the decorative techniques they employed, using red and brown leather, leather piping curled into spirals, geometric motifs cut out of gold leather, and even sculpted leather soles.

      Greece

      As in Egypt, the most popular shoe in Greece was the sandal. The Homeric heroes of the Iliad and The Odyssey wear sandals with bronze soles, while the gods wear sandals made of gold. Agamemnon, legendary king of Mycenae, protected his legs with the help of leg armor fastened with silver hooks.

      Sandals figure in a story about the Greek philosopher Empedocles, born around 450 BC in Agrigentum. As the story goes, Empedocles wanted people to believe he had ascended into heaven, so he dove into the opening of Mt. Etna. The volcano swallowed him, but ejected his sandals intact, in this way revealing the suicide’s hoax.

      Archaeological discoveries in the tombs at Vergina confirm that wealthy Macedonians during the reign of Phillip II (382 BC-336 BC) wore sandals with soles of gold or gilded silver. The Greek sandal, worn by men and women alike, had a leather or cork sole of variable thickness, differentiated right and left feet, and attached to the foot with straps. Originally simple shoes, sandals later displayed elegant complexity. Examples are found on sculptures from the period, such as the sandals worn by Diana of the Hunt (Louvre Museum, Paris). Attic vases show certain figures wearing laced boots called endromides, also known as embas when trimmed with a flap.

      As for other models of Greek footwear, the pointed shoe of the Hittite variety, with which the Ionians were long familiar, never reached mainland Greece, although it was depicted by Greek vase painters who wanted to give an oriental character to their figures. Aeschylus (525 BC-456 BC) is credited with inventing the cothurne. Worn by the actors in Greek tragedies who played the roles of heroes and gods, the cothurne had an elevated cork sole that increased height at the expense of stability. This theatrical shoe adjusted equally to fit both feet, whence the expression “more versatile than a cothurne.” It is interesting to note that the cothurne, because of its height, represents the beginnings of a heel, which would remain unknown to Antiquity, but would appear later in Italy at the end of the 16th century.

      One Greek custom was reserved for courtesans: the wearing of sandals embellished with precious stones. It was said that their studded soles left an unambiguous message in the sand that said, “follow me.” The rich variety of Greek footwear goes against the advice of Plato (428 BC-348 BC), who advocated walking barefoot.

      15. Diana the Huntress, copy from the 2nd century B. C., adaptation of a Greek original from the 4th century B. C., attributed to Léo Charès, marble, The Louvre, Paris.

      16. Attican cup with red figures, attributed to Epiktétos. Around 500 BC. Agora Museum, Athens.

      17. Attica urn with black figures, representing a shoe repairer’s workshop. Around 520–510 BC. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

      The Etruscans

      The Etruscans probably originated in Asia Minor, appearing in Italy in what is now Tuscany at the end of the 8th century BC. Realistic paintings decorating their tombs and cemeteries (Triclinium, Tarquinia, Caere) portray gods and mortals dressed in raised-toe shoes of the Hittite variety. Strapped sandals, cut shoes, and laced boots emerged in Etruria in the 4th century BC and represent established contacts with other peoples around the Mediterranean basin.

      Rome

      Rome was the direct heir to Greek civilization and felt its influence in the area of footwear: Roman